"Agencies are not exactly the best funded today, so volunteers are more important probably than they have ever been," Adam Pertman, president of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency, told ABC News. "All agencies over the years have certainly needed volunteers but … the need has grown. Volunteers have become more and more essential."

Interim care provider programs, like Spence-Chapin's, are looking for volunteers to cuddle newborns in onsite nurseries or take care of an infant at their homes for two to four weeks.